The promises and challenges of biofuels for the poor in developing countries: IFPRI 2005-2006 Annual Report Essay

"In the past several years the changing world energy situation has generated intensive discussion about biofuels, much of it promising a source of environment-friendly energy that would also be a boon to the world's farmers. At the same time skeptics argue that biofuel production will threaten food supplies for the poor and fail to achieve the environmental benefits claimed. Based on the analyses below, we conclude that in order to make a difference in the lives of poor people as both energy producers and consumers, and to make strong environmental and economic contributions, biofuel technology needs further advancement, and investments and policies facilitating agricultural innovation and trade will have to be considered." from TextBiofuels, Poor Developing countries, Small farmers,

Bioenergy and agriculture: promises and challenges

Peter Hazell.Biofuels, Agricultural research, Development, Poor Developing countries,

Retailer’s Optimal Ordering Policies with Two Stage Credit Policies and Imperfect Quality

Two levels of trade credits refers that the supplier provides to his/her retailer a permissible delay period (M) in paying for purchasing items and the retailer also in turn provides a permissible delay period (N,M > N) to his/her customer to stimulate his product demand. When lot received by retailer, it may be contain some imperfect quality of goods by the causes of non-ideal production process or other causes. So retailers perform a screening process to find the imperfect items and returned to the supplier immediately. Therefore, an attempt is made in this paper to develop the retailer’s optimal ordering policies in supply chain coordination with upstream and downstream trade credits and imperfect quality. The propose paper considers two cases N ≤ M and M≤ N that is more near to real world cases. Some numerical examples are used to be show validity of this paper.Key words: Inventory; Imperfect items; Up-stream and down-stream trade credits and supply chai

Household Survey Data Used in Calibrating the Population-Environment-Technology Model

The Population-Environment-Technology (PET) model is an inter-temporal general equilibrium model of global scale used to project future energy demand and related CO2 emissions. It can include multiple production and consumption sectors and is well suited to incorporate a heterogeneous population structure. Calibration of general equilibrium models is usually very data intensive. In this report we present the data used in the calibration of the household side of the PET model. We include a description of the household surveys, the process of analyzing both income and consumption data, and a few illustratve results of variations in household characteristics across regions and household types

Forefinger direction based haptic robot control for physically challenged using MEMS sensor

The ability to feel the world through the tools we hold is Haptic Touch. The sensory element that will transform information into experience by remotely interacting with things is challenging. This paper deals with design and implementation of fore finger direction based robot for physically challenged people. The design of the system includes microcontroller, MEMS sensor and RF technology. The robot system receives the command from the MEMS sensor which is placed on the fore finger at the transmitter section. Robot will follow the direction in which we show our Forefinger. The path way of the robot may be either point-to-point or continuous. This sensor can be able to detect the direction of Forefinger and the output is transmitted via RF transmitter. In the receiver section RF receiver which receives corresponding signal will command microcontroller to move robot in that particular direction. Therefore the simple control mechanism of the robot is shown. Experimental results for fore finger based directional robot are enumerated

The Response of Big Sagebrush (\u3ci\u3eArtemisia tridentata\u3c/i\u3e) to Interannual Climate Variation Changes Across Its Range

Understanding how annual climate variation affects population growth rates across a species\u27 range may help us anticipate the effects of climate change on species distribution and abundance. We predict that populations in warmer or wetter parts of a species\u27 range should respond negatively to periods of above average temperature or precipitation, respectively, whereas populations in colder or drier areas should respond positively to periods of above average temperature or precipitation. To test this, we estimated the population sensitivity of a common shrub species, big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), to annual climate variation across its range. Our analysis includes 8,175 observations of year‐to‐year change in sagebrush cover or production from 131 monitoring sites in western North America. We coupled these observations with seasonal weather data for each site and analyzed the effects of spring through fall temperatures and fall through spring accumulated precipitation on annual changes in sagebrush abundance. Sensitivity to annual temperature variation supported our hypothesis: years with above average temperatures were beneficial to sagebrush in colder locations and detrimental to sagebrush in hotter locations. In contrast, sensitivity to precipitation did not change significantly across the distribution of sagebrush. This pattern of responses suggests that regional abundance of this species may be more limited by temperature than by precipitation. We also found important differences in how the ecologically distinct subspecies of sagebrush responded to the effects of precipitation and temperature. Our model predicts that a short‐term temperature increase could produce an increase in sagebrush cover at the cold edge of its range and a decrease in cover at the warm edge of its range. This prediction is qualitatively consistent with predictions from species distribution models for sagebrush based on spatial occurrence data, but it provides new mechanistic insight and helps estimate how much and how fast sagebrush cover may change within its range

Estimation of the Global Health Impacts of Air Pollution

Air pollution is increasingly recognized as a significant contributor to global health outcomes. A methodological framework for evaluating the global health related outcomes of outdoor and indoor (household) air pollution is presented and validated for the year 2005. Ambient concentrations of PM2.5 re estimated with a combination of energy and atmospheric models, with detailed representation of urban and rural spatial exposures. Populations dependent on solid fuels are established with household survey data. Health impacts for outdoor and household air pollution are independently calculated using the fractions of disease that can be attributed to ambient air pollution exposure and solid fuel use. Estimated ambient pollution concentrations indicate that more than 80% of the population exceeds the WHO Air Quality Guidelines in 2005. In addition, 3.26 billion people were found to use solid fuel for cooking in three regions of Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia and Pacific Asia in 2005. Outdoor air pollution results in 2.7 million deaths or 23 million DALYs while household air pollution from solid fuel use and related indoor smoke results in 2.1 million deaths or 41.6 million DALYs. The higher morbidity from household air pollution can be attributed to children below the age of five in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. The burden of disease from air pollution is found to be significant, thus indicating the importance of policy interventions

Energy for a Shared Development Agenda: Global Scenarios and Governance Implications

This report combines a global assessment of energy scenarios up to 2050, case studies of energy access and low-carbon efforts around the world, and a review of the technological shifts, investments, policies and governance structures needed to bring energy to all. How can the world meet energy needs for human and economic development in a way that is compatible with sustainable development? What is required is nothing less than a massive transformation of energy systems and rapid turnovers of infrastructure and technology, all of which must be achieved while staying within climate and resource constraints. Though the challenge is great, the energy and sustainability scenarios in this report show that it can be met. However, while these scenarios sketch out transformation pathways in broad strokes, the devil is in the detail. This study also explores how to successfully implement change, via case studies of energy transformation and reviews of policy mechanisms and governance frameworks. Over the coming decade, policymakers around the world need to build a shared development agenda to address these challenges. It is hoped that this study will help to lay the foundations for such an effort